Wednesday, June 27, 2012

I've seen this listed many times and finally made it. I will make more
of an effort to see them again in the future. They were awesome. Kenny
Wollensen was listed on the drums but it ended up being Dan Weiss. He
was awesome. All the music was phenomenal. I loved how they all
sounded together. All solos were fantastic. I meant to pick up a CD
and forgot. I will have get over to DMG to pick one up.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

I finally realized I can schedule appointments at 11am and take the
morning off and then go out later the night before. This show was the
night before the dentist and I was looking forward to getting down. I
saw her band briefly at Winter Jazzfest and I knew then I wanted to see a
whole show sometime. This seemed like their extra special show because
there were multiple singers and special guests. They did a change up
with the bass players sometime in the middle. They were both great - the 2nd one was even more my style.

I loved the funky stuff, even though
there weren't many dancers. They took it down a bit too often for my
taste, though. At 12:15 they did the slowest song of the night. Even
though I knew they'd leave us funked up, I took it as a lullabye and
made my exit.

For the high energy stuff they were a lot of fun.
They had a lot of steps the front line would do together and it got me
dancing harder. I don't know if I will ever get used to people staying
seated just because there are seats.

Lakecia Benjamin- Release party of debut album "Retox"

Charismatic and dynamic saxophonist/bandleader Lakecia
Benjamin, who has played with Stevie Wonder, Prince, Alicia Keys, The
Roots and Macy Gray, will take center stage in her own right with the
June 12 release of her unconventional soul/funk album, RETOX, on Motéma
Music. The album will be released in Europe in the fall, and will be
followed by a tour across Europe.

After I kept having to stop and dance while walking by the Acura Stage at Jazzfest
I figured it was time to give them another shot in NYC. I used to love
seeing them at Wetlands. I also expected a guitar and that sax from
New Orleans Suspects. I know Jamie McClean has been gone for a while
but I thought they had another guitar player.

Needless to say,
there was no guitar and a different alto and piano. Sure, Kirk Joseph,
Terence Higgins and Roger Lewis were all there and they played well.
But, I wanted what blew me away at jazzfest.

I got there at around
9:15ish and they took a setbreak at around 10:20/10:30ish. Sometime
during the 2nd set, things took a turn. They started getting funkier,
it was more compelling to dance, "get up get on up ...". They weren't
doing James Brown, they were doing something better! The lights went
down and it got phenomenal. THIS is the song I saw them doing at
jazzfest. It was an awesome long song and then they went back to same
old same old. I don't know where they got that from, but I would love
it if they could get more of it. It reminded me a lot of my favorite
parts of Soul Rebels.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

It was straight ahead excellency. David is amazing. He was fun to
watch because he was so into it. The bass and drums were awesome as
well. The drummer really had me going especially the last tune. He was
doing some kind of crisscross thing with his sticks on the drumheads
that had an African rhythm and was amazing.

I was really tired and I considered not going. The music woke me up and I completely forgot I was tired.

Great set!

David Kikoski – piano
Ed Howard – bass
Al Foster – drums

In the performance of jazz music today, “you have to study and know the
traditions, but then you have to play things that haven’t been played
before,” says David Kikoski. “It becomes a bal­ance of knowing the
tradition and using your own original voice to add to it.” David has
maintained that delicate balance of tradition and innovation throughout
his career. He’s enlivened dozens of record­ing dates as a first–call
sideman for jazz greats ranging from Red Rodney to Roy Haynes, and
carefully built his reputation as a leader with such fine albums as Mostly Standards (2009) and Live At Smalls
(2010). A regular with the Mingus Big Band, David Kikoski returns to
our stage this week with his own superb trio featuring bassist Ed
Howard and the great Al Foster on drums. “A chopsy, hard–hitting player
who has excelled for decades in elite, virtuosic company…Kikoski
surges and slaloms through the tunes, seemingly guided at times by
those post–bop pole stars Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.” (Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Nels independantly chose Julian to do this gig with him - before he knew the 1st band was 2 guitars
and a drummer. I liked having 2 guitars follow 2 guitars and a
drummer. This was their first gig but they had some material ready.
They intend to record at some point, I think on DMG's label.

It
was excellent. They each had 2 guitars and I still don't know enough
about guitars to say how they were different. The music was beautiful.
It stuck with me for a while.

Nels Cline & Julian Lage (First appearance as a duo!)
Guitar master-explorer NELS CLINE should need no introduction, having
held the guitar seat in WILCO for many years. His recording and
performing career - spanning jazz, rock, punk, and experimental - is
well into its fourth decade, with over 130 recordings, including at
least 30 for which he is leader. Besides Wilco, he has played or
performed with Tim Berne, Vinny Golia, Scott Amendola, Lydia Lunch,
Thurston Moore.. the list is endless!

This is Cline's first duo performance with seasoned guitar great JULIAN
LAGE, who has played with Gary Burton, Jim Hall, Fred Hersch, Scott
Colley and Joey Baron! This looks to be the beginning of a serious
ongoing musical relationship.

It was Downtown Music Gallery (DMG)
21st anniversary celebration. It was also a CD release for this 2
guitar and drums trio. Apparantly, DMG has a record label and this is
one of theirs. Since I enjoyed the band so much and I love supporting
DMG, I had to get the CD. Before I bought it and after the phenomenal
set.

The set was fabulous, and definitely got out there with some great avant-rock portions.

Kalabalik feat. Raoul Björkenheim, Anders Nilsson, and Gerald CleaverKalabalik is RAOUL BJORKENHEIM guitar, ANDERS NILSSON guitar, and GERALD CLEAVER drums. Originally united for a live recording at DMG's Chinatown store in 2011, this trio has formed a rewarding creative bond. This is their 2nd NYC performance.

The incendiary Mr Bjorkenheim, leader of such units as Scorch Trio and Krakatau, has a three decade career of performance internationally, including with Edward Vesala, Bill Laswell, Paul Schutze, and UMO Jazz Orchestra, and over 50 recordings (ECM, Rune Grammafon, Cuneiform, et al).

Master drummer Gerald Cleaver, with over 100 releases under his belt, has performed with legends like Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, and leads the groups Farmers By Nature, Uncle June, Detroit, and Veil Of Names with jazz luminaries Craig Taborn, Mat Maneri, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, et al.

Anders Nilsson, like Raoul also raised in Finland, is the leader of the Aorta Ensemble and Fulminate Trio, and a favorite collaborator of jazz vocalist Fay Victor. He is the youngest member of this outfit by a hair, but this has not impeded his collaboration with an astonishing number of international musicians, including Mats Gustafsson, Paquito D'Rivera, Michael Formanek, Hamid Drake, et al. His chameleonesque guitar prowess has appeared on over 30 recordings in the last 10 years.

This was tango
revisited. Tango, Latin, Jazz, Classical influenced music. Piano,
bandoneon, upright bass, cello and drums. It got a little out there but
not crazy. I loved hearing the different sounds from the instruments.
The last piece had a very cool bandoneon solo where I really got to see
the variety of sounds it is capable of.

Fernando Otero, who makes his Jazz Standard debut tonight as part of
the “New Dimensions in Latin Jazz Series,” was deep into classical
piano studies in his native Buenos Aires when he began to develop a
unique and provocative style he called “X Tango.” Acclaimed albums like
Pagina de Buenos Aires (2007) and the Latin Grammy Award–winning Vital
(2010) combined the improvisatory thrill of jazz with a contemporary
classical structure in compositions that were often fast–paced and
intense, full of dramatic stops and starts. Reviewing Fernando Otero’s
performance at New York’s Symphony Space in February 2012, Steve Smith
wrote in The New York Times: “Mr. Otero’s writing vibrantly
summoned tango ancestors while also acknowledging Bartok and Prokofiev.
His brilliant playing bore traces of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and
Don Pullen. The resulting synthesis proposed bold new directions for a
venerable tradition.”

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

It was only a matter of time before I was finally able to see them. Dred Scott was curating Tues nights at this nice little bar. The owner wants to
get a Tues Night Jazz Night thing going on on that block on Orchard. I
had noticed a trombone trio playing at another place on the corner on my
way. I love this idea. Will Bernard was playing the following week. I took so long to put this up, that I'm not sure if it is still going on. I hope so.

The Trio was playing up front by
the bar. Dred had a little keyboard sitting on a table top with a
powerful sound. I loved the bass. The drums were awesome. They had a special guest, MC Extra Cheese. He had fun rap lyrics.

I
found out about this show from the gigometer list. I met Pierre, the
compiler at this show. It's a great list in that he's got a lot on
there I don't see on other lists. Check it out.

I've seen them play as a duo before and it is fantastic. I mean, I
would go to see either of them in anything they do, so of course it was
excellent. I enjoyed it immensely. Matana originally double booked and
was supposed to fly to Montreal to rehearse for he upcoming gig at the
Victoriaville fest later that week. I'm so glad she rearranged things
because she felt she didn't play Home enough. Thanks Matana!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Adam says he's done a Round Robin show every year for this fest. This was my first
time making it and it was really awesome. They select the musician
order randomly either the day before or day of. #1, in this case the
drummer Amir Ziv, comes out solo and after 5 min is joined by #2, john
Ellis on tenor sax. After 5 min, Amir leaves and Matthew Motel comes
out to join John on keys for 5 min. Matthew was the only one I had never
seen before. After John left he was joined by Brandon Seabrook on banjo
and guitar. Brandon was so interesting. He was playing the banjo with
the bow a lot. He also got to play with Bob Stewart on tuba for 5.
That was great. Bob then played with Jeff Lederer on tenor sax.

Jeff
also got to play with the phenomenal Marika Hughes on cello. Then it
was fun to see Marika play with Linda Oh on bass. Way cool to have just
a cello and bass up there. Even cooler to have it be those two. Then,
it gets even more interesting that the randomness now has 2 basses with Linda being joined by Mark Helias. Mark then got to play with Bill
McHenry on tenor sax.

Next it was Bill with John Hollenbeck.
After that, fate allowed us to get Mike Pride playing with John. I had a
piece of paper with the lineup, so I had already been wondering how
that was gonna go with only one kit on the stage. There was another
cymbal hanging out. How it went was John had been using the
glockenspiel on top of the snare when he played with Bill. When Mike
Pride came out at first they were both playing the kit as John
transitioned the glockenspeil to the floor. He actually had a lot of
things to play on the floor and he had that standing cymbal in the
back. I enjoyed the duo drummer piece a lot.

Mike then played
with Loren Stillman on alto sax. Loren was then joined by Cooper-Moore
who brought out his diddley bo and banjo. He played the diddley bo with
Loren and the banjo with miles Okazaki on guitar. That was awesome.

Fabian
Almazan came out to join Miles on piano. Then he was joined by Graham
Haynes on trumpet. Graham got to finish it up with a solo, so he
brought out a mic with some pedals.

It was an incredibly great
festival. I missed Night 3, the DIY night. But, all 4 nights using the
festival pass was only $55. That's just ridiculous.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

It was a phenomenal idea. One set of MMW, then one set where there is a rotation of each member being substituted with a guest and a final set of MMW with various special guests.
I did dream of having whole shows of 2 of them with a different 3rd and
whole shows of duos between the 3 of them. Like. We have Mago for
Martin & Medeski, it would be awesome to see a show of Wood and
Martin and another one of Wood and Medeski.

Anyway, I hadn't been
to Brooklyn Masonic yet and it took an effort to get to this unfamiliar
territory. I missed the first set which was pure MMW. I heard it was
about 40 minutes and great.

It's a wild drink setup there. First
you wait in line to buy a drink ticket for beer, sangria, or water.
Then you go over to the bar to get the drink and give a tip. The bar
is like school auditorium bake sale tables. I don't drink beer so I got
a sangria ticket. When I got to the bar I was told they were out of
sangria. But, she had vodka and picked up a bag of Dole frozen fruit to
show me she still had some fruit. So I had a vodka soda and fruit and I
liked it.

They came on soon after with Anthony Coleman on keys
instead of Medeski. That was probably the most stretched as far as
improvised goes. I enjoyed it.

After about 10 min or so, Chris
leaves, John comes back and Billy announces Oren Bloedow on bass. He
also tells us Oren named them back when they were kicking around ideas
"why don't you just call yourselves Medeski, Martin, and Wood?" It was
an awesome 10 min or so of music.

Then Billy gets up to give his
drumming brother, Calvin Weston some time to blow us away. He started
on trumpet then moved to drums and ended back on trumpet.

Now we
go around again with Marco Benevento on keys. This led us to the trippy
portion of the evening. Really, with each combination it was a
completely different band all evening long.

Marcus Rojas was
listed, but ended up not being able to make it. They actually got
another tuba player, Bob Stewart, to step in. I've seen Bob play
before, so I already knew how impressive he is. This was the first time
Billy and John met Bob. This part was longer, more like a miniset. It
was awesome and the other more stretchy improv portion of the
replacement portion of the evening.

Lastly for this portion, Adam
Deitch came up and it got a little funky. This portion was also longer
than others, although not as long as the Bob Stewart part.

Time for another setbreak, about 1/2 hour or longer.

There
was one more great set in which various special guests joined MMW til
the end. More special guests - not the same ones from before. It
started with So Percussion, which meant 4 extra percussionists standing
and playing by Billy.

Next was a super awesome portion with
Vernon Reid on guitar. Just awesome. At some point during this
awesomeness DJ Logic came out to join in on turntables. Vernon stays up
for a while and eventually Charlie Burnham comes out for one of my
favorite parts of the evening. Reid leaves at some point while all of
this is going on.

After that, the guests left the stage and they put out a pedal steel guitar for Chuck Campbell. That was great.

For
the final piece they were taking away the pedal steel and putting up a
mic for Miho Hatori. It was about midnight and I decided to leave before
she came onstage.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

One great fest leads right into the next one. I got home Mon night and
this one starts on Tues.

The Undead Jazzfest is
definitely one of the highlights of the year. This first night included
27 bands in 3 venues very close to each other in the West Village for
one low priced ticket. Coming off of jazzfest, I realize the venues at
Undead and Winter jazzfests are super close. Walking around the
Fairgrounds several times is quite a distance, for THE pinnacle of every
year, NOLA jazzfest. FYI - whenever we say "jazzfest, we mean NOLA
every other fest must have a descriptor to go with it.

I started
the evening at LPR with Jamie Saft's New Zion Trio. I love them and can't get
enough. I bought their CD and it is excellent. I highly recommend it.http://vealrecords.com/newziontrioNew Zion Trio brings together three masters of Reggae and Jazz musics
for the first time in a unique piano trio setting straight from Kingston
Yard. New Zion Trio features Jamie Saft (piano/keyboards), Larry Grenadier (acoustic bass), and Craig Santiago
(drums). New Zion Trio forges a fresh and new musical path that brings
together Roots Reggae, Dub, Doom, and Jazz styles in an extra mellow
acoustic setting. Burning Reggae and Dancehall beats provide the
platform for complex original Jazz and Soul compositions.

I
moved on to Kenny's for Greg Ward's Phonic Juggernaut with Joe Sanders
and Damion Reid. This is a great band I probably wouldn't get to see
otherwise.

I
saw just a little of The Refuseniks with John Hollenbeck, Ted Reichman
and Reuben Radding. Apparently, that was their 1st gig in 9 years.
They were phenomenal and I hope they enjoyed it enough to play again for
us. Reuben had a smaller upright bass. It looked like a contrabass
and it was definitely bigger than a cello. I recall seeing him and
Shanir Blumenkranz play together one Improv Night at The Stone. They
both had regular sized contrabasses that night.

After
that was a 7 minute film about Tonic. There was a lot of footage from
the last days and I almost cried. I miss that place so much. The
filmmaker plans to make an hour length documentary and if you have any
video footage you can get in touch with Melissa.

Wow, they keep
coming up with amazing ensembles I could never have dreamed of. Billy
Martin Improv with Erik Friedlander, Marcus Rojas and Calvin Weston.
Billy and Calvin took turns on the kit and percussion. It was such a
great set. I love Erik.

I of course wanted to stay for Sexmob and the rest of the great bands, but I had to pace for the seek so I called it a night.

Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias(Mardi Gras Indians) The son of
the beloved Big Chief Bo Dollis, Bo Jr. has taken over leadership of
this renowned Uptown Mardi Gras Indian tribe.Though the elder Dollis
has suffered illness over the past few years, he usually makes a highly
anticipated appearance at the festival.

I enjoyed some of AsheSon at the Lagniappe Stage. I don't remember anything about them except that.

http://lineup.nojazzfest.com/band/ashesonAsheSon (Latin/Cuban) Cubanbornguitarist Javier Olondo leads this
ensemble that performs music that incorporates elements from its
members’ homelands: Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guatemala.

I
heard a little of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings. I didn't give them
much of a chance, but I will say they didn't do it for me in the past. I
know I'm a minority and a lot of people love them.

I got a
little Preservation Hall Jazz band, which in my view is a perfect choice
for the new traditional Jazzfest closer (replacing The Radiators who
broke up).

The New Orleans Night Crawlers were also an excellent
fest closing choice, and that's how I ended it - totally up and dancing
my butt off.http://lineup.nojazzfest.com/band/n-o-nightcrawlersNew Orleans Night Crawlers (Brass Band) Assembled in 1994,
the Crawlers boast many musicians heard in a variety of other groups such as
trombonist Craig Klein (Bonerama), saxophonist Brent Rose and sousaphonist Matt
Perrine. Solid arrangements and fine musicianship give this brassy outfit a
sophisticated edge. Latest CD: Slither Slice.

http://lineup.nojazzfest.com/band/ed-volkerA founding member of The Radiators, Ed Volker, aka Zeke, is a New
Orleans native and a prolific songwriter who sings and plays keyboard.
Though The Radiators recently called it quits after 33 years, Volker
continues to perform around town and has become a popular act on his
own.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I enjoyed Glen David Andrews in the Blues Tent. Joe Krown was listed
next but they played the day before. I was wondering what they were
gonna do with that time slot. They ended up giving it to Glen David
Andrews, so they had a very long time slot. I therefore stopped by a
couple of times. It was good. I think it would have been nice to have
Joe Krown play a 2nd day.http://lineup.nojazzfest.com/band/glen-david-andrewsGlen David Andrews (Traditional Jazz) The talented trombonist and
vocalist Glen David Andrews of the musical Andrews family – that
includes cousins James and Trombone Shorty – powerfully delivers a mixed
band of traditional jazz, gospel and brass band staples.

I love Galactic. Their jazzfest set is
always great. It was wild they were playing at the same time as the
Funky Meters. I left the great Galactic time to go get some Meters. It
seems I'm done with The Meters. There was a time when I wanted to see
them every night. I still enjoy funk a lot, I just overdid it and now I
need it to be new and fresh.